Christmas Rescue at Mustang Ridge

by Delores Fossen

  Jake groaned. He didn’t have the energy for this, especially since it could all be act. Still, he was the sheriff for a little while longer anyway, and if something bad did indeed happen to Wade, it would be on his hands. He was already wrestling with enough guilt without adding that.

  “I’ll call Royce and see what kind of arrangements we can make,” Jake said. “In the meantime, David was right about staying low.”

  “Thanks.” But Wade didn’t sound appreciative. “Did the information I hacked help you find Maggie?”

  “Not yet,” Jake lied. “I’m still looking.”

  Without adding more or even saying goodbye, he clicked the end-call button and immediately phoned his brother. After he’d verified that Sunny was still all right, that her condition hadn’t changed, he asked Royce to call Sheriff Logan over in Corner’s Lake.

  “You really think Wade needs protection from Tanner?” Royce asked.

  “No. But I don’t want him dead, either. It’s an outside shot, but Tanner might consider Wade to be some sort of loose end.”

  “Yeah,” Royce agreed. “Or maybe Wade is just trying to muddy the waters.”

  Jake had considered that, too. “If Sheriff Logan can provide a protection detail, try and get updates on Wade’s whereabouts. I’d like to keep any eye on him, too.”

  “Will do. Any word from Dr. Grange on those lab results?” Royce asked.

  “Not yet.” Jake checked the time. “But I’ll go ahead and give him a call.” He paused. “Tell Sunny I love her.”

  “Already have,” Royce promised, “but I’ll tell her again. How’s Maggie holding up?”

  “I’m fine,” she jumped to answer.

  Jake glanced at her mouth that was slightly pink from their rough kissing session. She wasn’t fine. Neither was he. That kiss had rattled both of them in part because it’d lit some very bad fires in his body.

  And he was pretty sure that kiss wasn’t the last.

  “Sunny asked about you, Maggie,” Royce added.

  Maggie pressed her hand to her chest as if to steady her heart, and she smiled. However, that smile faded when she glanced at Jake. Probably because he had a scowl or something on his face. That was his usual reaction when he had Sunny and Maggie in the same thought. But he wanted to kick himself now because, after all she was doing for Sunny, Maggie didn’t deserve to be scowled at.

  “What did Sunny say?” Maggie asked, her voice tentative and so was the second glance she gave him.

  Royce cleared his throat. “She wanted you to read a story to her. And she mentioned something about you being at the ranch with her for Christmas. A present to her, she said.”

  Just like that, Maggie’s expression changed, and he saw the sadness creep into her eyes. Probably because spending Christmas together wasn’t possible. If they had the match and the bone marrow by then, Maggie would be on her way back into WITSEC. Jake refused to consider that she wouldn’t be a match.

  “Tell Sunny I’ll call her on Christmas,” Maggie finally said. “And tell her I love her.”

  “I will,” Royce assured her, and he ended the call.

  “A present?” Jake questioned.

  Maggie nodded but couldn’t hide the wince that crossed her face. “Sunny did ask if I could stay, but I didn’t say yes.” She dodged his gaze, turned away from him. “She also asked if I could be her mommy.”

  Jake groaned before he could stop himself.

  “I know,” Maggie jumped to say. “I’m so sorry.” And she just kept repeating it while those tears threatened again. “I didn’t bring it up, and I didn’t do anything to encourage it.”

  “This isn’t your fault,” he heard himself say. It was the truth, but he figured that kiss had something to do with his blurting that out. “Lately, she’s been asking a lot about her mother.”

  When Maggie continued to shake her head as if still blaming herself, Jake pulled her right back in his arms. Oh, yeah. It was stupid. His body was still tingling from their kiss, and holding her was only complicating the situation.

  Except it was different this time.

  Not sexual, exactly. Something more. Something Jake damn sure didn’t want to feel because it was like a betrayal to Anna. He released the grip on her and stepped back so fast that he was certain she’d ask for some kind of explanation. And maybe she would have if his phone hadn’t buzzed.

  He was actually grateful for interruption, until he heard the familiar voice on the other end.

  “Jake, it’s me, David.”

  “I’m surprised you called,” Jake commented.

  “I said I would. I don’t have the bone marrow test results back yet, but I talked with some of my father’s business associates.”

  “And?” Jake prompted when he didn’t continue.

  “And I have a name for you. I know who my father hired to kill you.”

  “You mean the man he hired to kill Maggie,” Jake corrected.

  “No,” David corrected right back. “You.”

  Chapter Eight

  Dr. Gavin Grange.

  His name kept going through Maggie’s head. So did the warning that David had issued several hours earlier with his call: his father, Bruce Tanner, had hired the doctor to kill Jake. She wanted to dismiss it as a total lie, especially since she didn’t trust David one bit. But this sounded exactly like a plan Tanner would have concocted.

  Use a person that Jake trusted. A person he would have contact with because of Sunny’s illness. It was smart and sick, two things that Tanner was good at.

  “Top or bottom?” she heard Jake say.

  Maggie had no idea what he meant, and she jerked her attention to him. Since they hadn’t wanted to risk using the overhead light, the only illumination in the room came from the orangey coils on the heater, but Maggie saw that he was looking at the bunk beds. Her mind hadn’t been on that steamy kiss or his involuntary reaction, but it was now, even though it was clear that Jake’s question had no sexual meaning.

  Since David’s call, Jake had given her a wide berth. Jake was no doubt trying to decide what, if anything, he should do with the accusation about the town’s doctor.

  “I’ll take the bottom,” she answered.

  Maggie stepped away from the tiny heater that was providing the only warmth for the cabin, and she grabbed one of the blankets Jake had brought with them.

  “You okay?” Jake asked as he eyed her suspiciously.

  She nodded, not wanting to rehash David’s call, their kiss or the fact they hadn’t heard back on any of the test results. They both had enough weighing on their minds without discussing the details.

  Maggie climbed beneath the covers that were already on the bed. Cold covers, she quickly realized. It was like sleeping in snow, and the extra blanket that Jake helped spread over her didn’t add much warmth. He lifted an eyebrow when she started to shiver.

  “I’ll be fine,” she lied again.

  He made a suit yourself sound and climbed onto the top bunk. Jake didn’t say good-night, probably because they both knew it wouldn’t be one, and it would take a miracle for either of them to get any sleep.

  The minutes crawled by, but they weren’t crawling fast enough. Since nightfall, the temperature had steadily dropped, and even though she still had on her clothes and coat, her teeth started to chatter. Great. No way to hide that sound in the otherwise quiet cabin.

  She tried to get her mind on something else. Maggie went back to that kiss and wished she had that kind of heat again.

  Yeah, it was stupid to wish that, especially since it wasn’t just about keeping warm. Being with Jake had made her remember how hollow her life was. It was a good thing she wouldn’t be going back to Coopersville, because she seriously doubted she could make it work.

  One more butt pinch from Herman Settler, and she’d probably lose it.

  Above her, she heard Jake mumble some profanity, and he climbed down from the bunk. He piled all his covers on top of her. “Move over,” he insisted.


  He probably couldn’t see her expression, but Maggie was sure he knew what was there. Skepticism, worry and, yes, some fear. “This is not a safe thing to do.”

  Jake slid her over himself and dropped down on the narrow mattress next to her. “Neither is catching pneumonia or getting frostbite. You’re cold. I’m cold. We’re stuck here until at least morning with no other blankets, and this is the only thing that makes sense.

  “Besides, we’ve got on so many layers of clothes that we might as well be wearing chastity belts,” he added in a mumble.

  Maggie wasn’t so sure of that, at all.

  He turned onto his side, his back to her, and because there was no room between them, Maggie had no choice but to have her body against his.

  Instant warmth.

  And more than that, unfortunately.

  Mercy, he smelled good. It was Jake’s own scent mixed with Nell’s Christmas gingerbread cookies they’d eaten earlier, and she had to force herself not to press closer to him to take in more of that. Apparently, she now had a thing for Jake’s scent and had come way too close to sniffing his shirt that was hanging in the bathroom.

  Yes, definitely a long night.

  She should have been exhausted, but she couldn’t even seem to close her eyes so Maggie just lay there next to Jake. Soon, she picked up the rhythm of his breathing, and she felt her own muscle start to relax a little.

  “Why would Tanner choose to kill me?” Jake asked.

  Clearly, she wasn’t the only one struggling with sleep, and it was a question that she was mulling over, as well. Unless...

  Maggie went back to the first kiss nearly two and a half years ago. Tanner had learned about that kiss because he’d taunted her with it when she’d visited once in the jail. Perhaps Tanner thought she was in love with Jake and that killing him was the best way to strike at her?

  But she kept that to herself.

  “Maybe even Tanner’s not so twisted to go after a sick child,” she suggested. “Or he might feel if he eliminates you, then it’ll be easier to go after the rest of us. After all, you’re the strong one. The alpha male. And in Tanner’s eyes, his biggest threat.”

  Jake stayed quiet for so long that Maggie thought it might be the end of a conversation they probably shouldn’t be having anyway. “I wasn’t a threat to him when he went after Anna.”

  “You were. He didn’t want you around to figure out what he was doing, but I think he was counting on bringing you to your knees just long enough for him to cover his tracks and get away with murder. But that didn’t happen.”

  “Oh, I was brought to my knees all right. Tanner was a free man for two months. If I’d been thinking straight, I would have connected the dots sooner.”

  “Yes,” she whispered. “And those dots led you to my investigation.” Something that hadn’t been readily apparent, not even to Maggie. “For the record, I didn’t connect the dots, either. I didn’t think Anna’s death had anything to do with me or the investigation.”

  “Yeah.” And there was another long pause. “I wasted two months believing her death had been some kind of random act of violence. That she’d been in the wrong place at the wrong time when that armed robber came into the store where she was. I was wrong.”

  “We both were,” she added. “And we were both punished. Me, rightfully so. You, simply because of the fallout.” The fallout was still there.

  “What kept you from going off the deep end?” Jake asked.

  It was an easy answer. “Punishment. I figured if I was dead, then that would be too easy. I didn’t deserve easy.”

  “None of us deserved what we got.”

  “No.” And that agreement hung between them for a while.

  “I keep going back to David’s comment,” Jake said. “The part where he said he was just learning about your investigation and he wondered how much I knew. What did he mean?” he pressed. “And I’d rather hear it from you, rather than having to ask him.”

  Oh. Well, that took away her out. Or rather her lie that she had no idea what David was talking about. She definitely didn’t want Jake bringing this up with David.

  Heaven knew the spin David would put on the truth.

  Maggie chose her words carefully. “Someone came to me with the initial information about Tanner’s illegal activity, and I felt duty bound to investigate it because it was pretty clear that the guy was a crook.”

  And she froze, waiting for Jake’s next question, and he didn’t waste any time tossing it out there.

  “Who came to you?”

  Maggie tried not to waste any time, either. “I’d rather not say.” In fact, she wouldn’t say. “And I’d prefer if you didn’t talk this over with David. Anything that comes out of his mouth would probably be a lie anyway.”

  Or worse. A lie coated with a little bit of truth.

  “Why won’t you tell me?” Jake asked.

  Oh, mercy. He just wasn’t going to let this drop. “I promised to keep the informant’s identity confidential.” Definitely the truth, and it was a promise Maggie intended to keep.

  Despite everything that’d happened.

  “Confidential,” he repeated, mumbling some profanity. “Even now, that’s between us. The secrecy. The pain. I know it’s been two and a half years, but part of me wants to keep on hating you,” Jake said.

  Well, she’d gotten her wish about the end of a Tanner conversation, but this one could be just as lethal.

  “Part of you should keep on hating me,” she agreed.

  Jake turned, slowly, easing himself around until he was facing her. “So, why did I kiss you then, huh? Why did I have that reaction to you?”

  “Yet something else we shouldn’t be discussing,” she reminded him.

  He stared at her, and in the dark room, she could barely make out his eyes. They were fixed on her, and even though she couldn’t see the details of his face, she figured his forehead was bunched up. His mouth tight. Jaw muscles, too.

  “I miss her every day,” he whispered, his breath hitting against her mouth. Not quite a kiss but close enough for Maggie to get a whole lot warmer than she had been just seconds earlier.

  Maggie made a sound of agreement. “Me, too.” And maybe that would remind him, and her, of the pain that wasn’t going away.

  Jake cursed. It was bad. And he jerked away from her and turned his back to her again. This was better, Maggie said to herself.

  Another lie.

  But she’d told so many of them tonight, what was one more? She didn’t want Jake to keep on hating her and she hadn’t wanted him to turn away—again.

  The quiet returned. The cold, too, and Maggie huddled against his back to keep herself warm. She forced herself to close to eyes. To clear her mind. She wouldn’t do Sunny or Jake any good if she was sleep deprived.

  “You know you’ll have to tell me sooner or later,” Jake whispered. “You’ll have to tell me who asked you to investigate Tanner.”

  Maybe. But sooner wasn’t going to be tonight. And if Jake thought the answer was going to give him some peace and ease some of his pain, it wouldn’t.

  In this case, the truth might destroy him.

  Chapter Nine

  The sound woke him.

  Jake snapped to a sitting position, and in the same motion he drew his gun. Maggie moved, too, no doubt to get up and see what the heck was wrong, but he made a shh sound, and he turned his head, listening for whatever had made the sound.

  Maggie and he waited, huddled on the bunk bed. However, the only thing Jake could hear was the wind battering the trees and the cabin.

  It was morning, barely, and the sun was just starting to come up, which meant he didn’t need to be sleeping anyway. He needed to call Royce to find out how Sunny was doing and if there’d been any progress with the test results.

  He reached to pull back the cover but stopped when he heard the sound again. Definitely not the wind.

  “I think it’s a car engine,” Maggie whispered.

&n
bsp; Maybe, but if so it wouldn’t be near the cabin, because there was no direct road to get there, just a ranch trail, and because of the ice it wasn’t passable. Jake had parked his truck on the side of the ridge, and they’d walked the last eighth of a mile to the cabin.

  He got up from the bunk bed, turned off the heater to silence the humming noise it was making, and he went to the window. With everything else going on, it was probably too much to hope that a hunter had just stumbled upon them by accident.

  Maggie picked up the Colt that Jake had brought with them and went to the window over the sink to look out at that side of the cabin. Jake did the same at the front.

  It was still dusky, with just a sliver of sunlight, making it hard for him to see anyone or anything. The same would be true for anyone out there. Plus, with the heater off, there were no lights on inside. Of course, if someone—Tanner’s hired gun, for instance—had seen Jake’s truck on the isolated trail, it wouldn’t be hard to figure out that Maggie and he were in the cabin.

  “See anything?” she whispered.

  “No.” But something wasn’t right. “Stay here,” Jake insisted.

  She frantically shook her head. “You’re not going out there.”

  “I just want to look around.” And before Maggie could make another objection, Jake did just that.

  He eased open the door. With the wind knifing through the room, the temperature started to plunge, and the cold gunmetal in his hand didn’t help. If he didn’t see anything in a second or two, he would shut the door. However, the thought had no sooner crossed his mind than he did see something.

  Movement near one of the winter-bare cottonwood trees.

  Maggie must have seen it, too, from the window. “There’s someone out there.”

  Jake didn’t have time to react to her warning. Because someone fired a shot.

  He slammed the cabin door and scrambled toward Maggie. He hooked his arm around her and pulled her into the tiny recessed area between the living area and the bathroom.

  It didn’t get them away from the windows completely. There was still one on the far side of the bathroom, the one in the kitchen and the other at the front of the house. Still, with Maggie and him in the shadows, they would be harder to see. He hoped.